Victimizing Christians

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Martin Bobgan

Psychological counseling theories and therapies have given Americans a new way of thinking and have turned our country into a therapeutic culture of the self—where the self and how it feels about itself are at the center of meaning. People from coast to coast have embraced a psychological mindset that puts emotional deprivation and woundedness as the root cause of nearly every personal and social problem. This mindset has the potential to make everyone into a victim needing the services of the ever-expanding mental-health system. Fifteen years ago Charles Sykes wrote a book titled A Nation of Victims: The Decay of the American Character, in which he says:

The ethos of victimization has an endless capacity not only for exculpating one’s self from blame, washing away responsibility in a torrent of explanation—racism, sexism, rotten parents, addiction, and illness—but also for projecting guilt onto others.1

Sykes also says, “The impulse to flee from personal responsibility and blame others seems far more deeply embedded within the American culture.”2 In fact, he declares, “The National Anthem has become The Whine,” and explains, “Increasingly, Americans act as if they had received a lifelong indemnification from misfortune and a contractual release from personal responsibility.”3

Psychological Mindset

The psychological mindset evolved out of the fairly recent development of clinical psychology (including psychotherapy, counseling psychology, and marriage and family counseling), which was birthed in colleges and universities around 1950 and expanded through politics and money.4 Since that time, it has exploded to the extent that Dr. Ellen Herman describes psychology’s popularity and impact on the Western world this way in her book titled The Romance of American Psychology:

Psychological insight is the creed of our time. In the name of enlightenment, experts promise help and faith, knowledge and comfort. They devise confident formulas for happy living and ambitious plans for dissolving the knots of conflict. Psychology, according to its boosters, possesses worthwhile answers to our most difficult personal questions and practical solutions for our most intractable social problems

Herman also says:

In the late twentieth-century United States, we are likely to believe what psychological experts tell us. They speak with authority to a vast audience and have become familiar figures in most communities, in the media, and in virtually every corner of popular culture. Their advice is a big business.6

The kind of psychology that carries this power to turn people into victims is psychotherapy with its underlying psychologies, such as Sigmund Freud’s theory of the unconscious and Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, along with an estimated 500 different counseling systems and their theories. After all, who has a perfect life, certainly none of the theorists, all of whom developed their systems out of their own personal lives and creative imagination?7

In her book Manufacturing Victims: What the Psychology Industry Is Doing to People, Dr. Tana Dineen reveals what the so-called caring profession has become. She begins her book with the following words and the rest of her book proves her point:

Psychology presents itself as a concerned and caring profession working for the good of its clients. But behind the benevolent facade is a voracious, self-serving industry that proffers “facts” which are often unfounded, provides “therapy” which can be damaging, and exerts influence, which is having devastating effects on the social fabric.8

Dineen also says:

It is not news to say that psychology has become an influential cultural force or that society is becoming more and more filled with people who consider themselves victims who are psychologically needy in one way or another.

What is news is that psychology is manufacturing most of these victims; that it is doing this with motives based on power and profit (emphasis hers).9

While, indeed, there are real victims, the psychotherapeutic mindset has trivialized the horrors that some people have experienced by so expanding the meaning that now everyone qualifies if they want to. The role of victim can actually be quite enticing. Besides qualifying for sympathy from friends, engaging in endless psychological therapy centered on self, and gaining exoneration from responsibility and guilt, being a victim provides a new identity of being the hero or heroine in one’s own drama of overcoming horrendous obstacles in the grand quest for psychological healing. Rather than having to face the ugly fact of their own sin without excuse or reason or blame-shifting, they choose to be victims. Dr. Carol Tavris and Dr. Elliot Aronson describe the usefulness of victimhood that comes from recovered memory therapy in their book titled Mistakes Were Made (but not by me): Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions, and Hurtful Acts. They say:

Why would people claim to remember that they had suffered harrowing experiences if they hadn’t, especially when that belief causes rifts with families or friends? By distorting their memories, these people can “get what they want by revising what they had,” and what they want is to turn their present lives, no matter how bleak or mundane, into a dazzling victory over adversity. Memories of abuse also help them resolve the dissonance between “I am a smart, capable person” and “My life sure is a mess right now” with an explanation that makes them feel good and removes responsibility: “It’s not my fault my life is a mess. Look at the horrible things they did to me.”10

Psychological Mindset Christianized?

Yes, we are surrounded by a nation of victims with a therapeutic mindset, but wait—we are Christians! How does this affect those of us who have been given new life through faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross? What does this have to do with the Gospel and with living the Christian life? Plenty!

Almost as soon as the romance of psychology took hold of Americans, it was embraced by Christians who believed psychological counseling theories and therapies would be useful for helping Christians. These psychological counseling ideas were brought into pastoral counseling classes in numerous seminaries. Next came the “Christian psychologists” who devised a plan to integrate counseling psychologies theories and therapies with Christianity, both for counseling believers and for instructing the saints about how to live the Christian life. And now, what is the advice people hear when they are struggling with emotional distress and problems of living? “You need counseling.” And, what they mean is professional counseling, psychotherapy and its underlying theories of the self. Why? Because they believe a lie that, in essence, says that the cross of Christ, the Word of God, the work of the Holy Spirit, and the fellowship of believers are not enough for people with emotional or relational problems of living and that Christians need what only psychological theories and therapies can do. This is because of what Sykes calls:

The triumph of the therapeutic mentality … which insisted upon seeing the immemorial questions of human life as problems that required solutions. The therapeutic culture provided both in abundance: The therapists transformed age-old human dilemmas into psychological problems and claimed that they (and they alone) had the treatment.11

This lie about the Word of God, the work of the Holy Spirit, and the fellowship of the saints not being sufficient for dealing with so-called psychological problems of living is promoted by numerous leaders and believed throughout the church. One of them is Dr. Bruce Narramore, Distinguished Professor at Rosemead School of Psychology at Biola University, who says: “I think the critics [of psychology] need to ask, ‘Why are people so interested in psychology?’ The thought is that we ought to go back to the old way. But the old way wasn’t working.”12 Narramore says this without proof or evidence and thereby implies that for nearly 2000 years God failed to supply His children with the means of dealing with problems of living.

The integration of the theories and therapies of counseling psychology has succeeded in turning the body of Christ into a bunch of victims. If this were a book title, the subtitle could be “The Demise of Biblical Ministry.” In its eager embrace of this kind of psychology, the church has left its first love and fallen for the wisdom of man and “philosophy and vain deceit” (1 Cor. 2; Col. 2:8). That this kind of psychology is now regular fare in churches across America can be seen in the observation of Dr. Frank Furedi in his book Therapy Culture, in which he says: “A study of ‘seeker churches’ in the US argues that their ability to attract new recruits is based on their ability to tap into the therapeutic understanding of Americans.”13 He sees this as a preoccupation with the self, and, indeed, that is what it is all about—self!

All About Self

The focus of psychological therapy is on self and its problems from the perspective that the self is essentially good, but wounded emotionally by circumstances and other people. Therefore more and more Christians are seeing themselves as innocent victims with their “mistakes” and problems of living being due to other people and circumstances beyond their control. Worse yet, some, who have been convinced that the source of their problems is what happened to them as young children, spend months and years in therapy and/or in so-called inner healing. Some are trying to gain insight by remembering real events and some are searching for supposedly forgotten memories of abuse and neglect. Others are encouraged to see a figure of Jesus add something to the memory to heal or change it, but, since this is all in their imagination, they end up with a false Jesus. The idea in all of this kind of counseling and inner healing is that self has been harmed in some way and must be helped and healed.

Psychotherapy thus attempts to fix the self so that its so-called essential goodness can be experienced and expressed. The psychological mindset sees the problem as on the outside. The solution is found within the self, albeit with the help of those who have special psychological knowledge. Self is central and must be nurtured with self-love, self-esteem, and self-worth, all of which are supposed to lead to self-fulfillment, but which generally increase self-absorption, self-centeredness, and self-indulgence.

In contrast, the Word of God presents the truth about mankind, that we are sinners by nature and therefore not essentially good in ourselves. Romans 3:10 says: “There is none righteous, no not one” and verse 23 says, “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” The problem of sin comes from within and the solution comes from outside ourselves, from God Himself through the cross of Christ, who bore our sin, and purchased our new life, which is received by grace through faith and lived by grace through faith.

Victim or Sinner?

One of the main goals of much counseling psychology is to relieve guilt so that individuals can feel better about themselves and thereby supposedly handle their lives more effectively. Helping an individual see himself as needy, emotionally wounded, and having been harmed or disappointed by others is one convenient way to sidestep personal responsibility, sin, and guilt. This is the opposite of the Bible, which provides the true remedy for sin and the only remedy for the human condition through Jesus Christ and all He accomplished to rid one of sin and guilt.

The whole of Scripture points to the Lamb of God slain before the foundation of the world. Its focal point is Jesus Christ satisfying God’s wrath against sin and procuring forgiveness and new life for believers. Christianity is all about living the new life and reckoning oneself dead to the old life. Christianity is not about focusing on problems and on other people’s sins and shortcomings, and it is not about dredging up the past to fix the present. The Christian life is about confessing one’s own sin, walking according to the new life in Christ, and “forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before” towards the goal of the “high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:13,14).

The early church had the one remedy for everyone’s present problems and past circumstances: the cross of Christ! The magnitude of each person’s sin against God from the cradle to the grave is more than anyone could bear to imagine, but Jesus took it all upon Himself so that he could give every believer new life. He, who knew no sin, died in the place of those who were by nature sin. He did not just come to fix the flesh (the old nature). He came to put it on the cross so that believers, by identifying with Him, could reckon themselves dead to the old and alive to the new.

Everyone has been adversely affected by the sins of others to some degree, but the adverse effects or the sinful tendencies from parents or sinful ways learned from them reside in the flesh (old nature). Our flesh is therefore the problem, not something outside ourselves, either past or present. Therefore, the Bible does not teach people to nurture their so-called “inner child” or to develop self-esteem or to probe their early childhood years to look for ways that adults failed them in any way. The Bible does not advise anyone to remember and re-experience past pain, disappointments, or even abuse for the sake of personal or spiritual growth. The Bible does not suggest that people must be healed emotionally before they can believe God or before they can grow spiritually.

Considering the grievous circumstances and the childhoods of many of the Gentile Christians, the early church had plenty of potential “victims” (many born and raised in slavery with the accompanying sexual and physical abuse and being treated as less than human). But, did the church treat them as victims needing to heal their emotional wounds or to remember the pain of the past in order to know God and to grow spiritually? No! The Bible does not portray mankind as victims, but as sinners. Jesus died for sinners, not victims!

The Way of the Cross

The way of the cross is a totally different way of dealing with serious life issues and problems of living. Rather than trying to remember the past and somehow rework painful memories through therapy or so-called inner healing, Christians need to reckon themselves dead to the past by identifying with Christ’s death and to live according to their new life in Christ. Everything needs to be taken to the cross instead of relived and talked about. Nevertheless, many of the people who promote this senseless return to the past agree that Christ died for our sins, but insist that many Christians still need healing from the past. However, digging up old memories for the purpose of changing one’s present life is counterproductive to the cross and in effect denies the finished work of Christ.

Jesus said, “It is finished.” So we say to fellow Christians: Identify with those words when you bring sin to the cross, your own sin and the sins committed against you. Recognize that Jesus suffered the pain and eternal consequence of those sins. He felt the pain and agony of every sin you have committed and the pain of every sin committed against you. He took it all and said, “It is finished.” If a memory with its pain comes back, treat it as a temptation from the enemy, who wants to rob you of the truth of what Christ did and to undermine your identification with Him, both in His death and resurrection. Satan always works to keep Christians struggling in the flesh, because that is where they are the most vulnerable and because he hates the life of Christ in every believer. He is most pleased when Christians walk according to the flesh or their old nature. Therefore, the devil is pleased with all forms of psychological therapy and related forms of inner healing, including Theophostic Prayer Ministry.14

Think Biblically, Not Psychologically

Christians need to think biblically when they read books about how to live and deal with problems of living. They need to guard their thinking when watching or listening to believers or unbelievers talking about how to deal with the issues of life and about what it is to be a Christian. They need to be alert to such expressions as: felt needs, rejection, broken lives, repression, denial, defense mechanisms, inferiority complex, sublimation, projection, transference, maladjustment, low self-esteem, the unconscious, hidden reservoirs, hidden memories, emotional wounds, emotional healing, codependence, addiction, compulsion, trauma, stress, identity crisis. Every behavior imaginable has the possibility of a psychological maldescription.

Utilizing psychological therapies or inner healing blinds Christians to the glory of the cross and the great love that was poured out for them. Those who are willing to face their own depravity and the sins they continue to commit after they have received new life and who honestly look at what Jesus bore in their place have a greater realization of God’s love. Jesus said, “To whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little” (Luke 7:47). Thus, by seeing the magnitude of what Christ forgave them, believers know His love, and by knowing and receiving His love, are enabled to love Him back and His love in them flows out to others. The cross is the answer to all the pain of the past, and Jesus is the answer for every present problem of living. Here is the victory won by Christ and worked into the fabric of believers’ lives as they reckon themselves dead to their old life and alive unto Him. No wonder the enemy of our souls has invented such an enticing trap into victimhood!

Believers do not transform their lives through looking at the sins of others or by revisiting the past, but by confessing their own sin and believing that Jesus took it all. Believers need to leave their own sin and the sins committed against them on the cross and not try to remember, reconstruct, fix or transform the so-called inner child, which is actually the old nature or flesh. They are to live by the new life Jesus has procured for them, the new life that stretches forward into eternity. Colossians 2:6-10 says:

As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power.

The Word of God continually calls believers back to their source of new life, back to faith in Christ and all he accomplished for living the new life. Believers are not called to be victims of their present circumstances or their past or of a powerful motivating unconscious supposedly formed during early life. They are to be walking by faith, growing in faith, and “abounding therein with thanksgiving.” That does not sound like the whine of the victims.

Furthermore, Paul warns believers not to be robbed of what they have in Christ through “philosophy and vain deceit” that turns them into victims. Psychological counseling theories are not science. They more aptly fall into Paul’s category of “philosophy and vain deceit.” Indeed, they resemble religion more than science. Dr. Thomas Szasz states the case very clearly in his book The Myth of Psychotherapy: “Herein lies one of the supreme ironies of modem psychotherapy: it is not merely a religion that pretends to be a science, it is actually a fake religion that seeks to destroy true religion.Ó15 Psychological counseling theories are collections of human opinions arranged in theoretical frameworks. They are human inventions based on the perception and personal experiences of the theorists themselves. They are “profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called: which some professing have erred concerning the faith”(1 Tim. 6:20-21).

Even when Paul was beaten and left for dead, he did not see himself as a victim, but as a recipient of the very life of Christ by grace through faith. Therefore he declared: “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). Rather than victims forever seeking to be healed of emotional wounds, Christians are new creations in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17), fully equipped for challenges, trials, disappointments, dangers, and all sorts of calamities. Christ has won the victory and “ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power.”

Victimization shifts the attention away from one’s own responsibility for what is thought, said, and done. Victimization shifts attention away from one’s own sin and onto the sins of others committed against them. Victimization diverts believers away from the cross of Christ. Victimization robs them of gratitude for God’s unspeakable gift and thereby robs them of a close walk with Him. Turning Christians into victims weakens their faith and stunts spiritual growth. Every choice to walk according to the Spirit by grace through faith brings spiritual maturity. The choice is up to every believer, whether to be a psychologically defined and created victim or to be a biblically defined sinner saved by grace and growing into the likeness of Christ.

(PsychoHeresy Awareness Letter, May-June 2008, Vol. 16, No. 3)

“Just read your article on victims (PsychoHeresy )…

I used to feel like everything that I went through was not my fault. I was angry at God. My mom had mental illness, I was raped by 3 men, abused in my first marriage, boyfriend killed in accident, and blah blah blah. But one day that outlook changed. What was it? I took responsibility. I put myself in bad situations. I made poor choices that led me to those circumstances. I ignored God’s voice. I…I..I….I was the reason. Not God. Once I realized that, God was able to come in and take care of business. My relationship with God was mended. God was merciful and he blessed me beyond what I deserve. He is in control. Not me. Being the victim puts you in the driving seat—I was driving around in circles. That’s all being a victim does. Gets u nowhere in a hurry. I want God to be my driver. I don’t want the control. Let Him take me where He will.

But there are sooo many people who can make anything an act of victimization! They twist innocent words or events to make themselves the victim. It’s toxic for the soul. It eats away at the victim and seeps into those around them. It’s all about the rush. The attention. People can be quick to feed these lions with the food they seek. Dangerous.” anonymous

Endnotes
1 Charles J. Sykes. A Nation of Victims: The Decay of the American Character. New York: St. MartinÕs Press, 1992, p. 11.

2 Ibid., pp. 14,15.

3 Ibid., p. 15.

4 Rogers H. Wright and Nicholas A. Cummings, eds. The Practice of Psychology: The Battle for Professionalism. Phoenix, AZ: Zeig, Tucker & Theisen, Inc., 2001.

5 Ellen Herman. The Romance of American Psychology. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1195, 1996, p. 1.

6 Ibid.

7 Harvey Mindess. Makers of Psychology: The Personal Factor. New York: Insight Books, 1988; Linda Riebel, ÒTheory as Self-Portrait and the Ideal of Objectivity,Ó Journal of Humanistic Psychology, Spring 1982.

8 Tana Dineen. Manufacturing Victims: What the Psychology Industry is Doing to People. Montreal, QB: Robert Davies Multimedia Publishing, 1996, 1998, 2000, p. 15.

9 Ibid., pp. 17,18.

10 Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson. Mistakes Were Made (but not by me): Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions, and Hurtful Acts. New York: Harcourt, Inc., 2007, p. 94.

11 Sykes, op. cit., p. 34.

12 Bruce Narramore, Christianity Today, May 17, 1993, p. 26.

13 Frank Furedi. Therapy Culture: Cultivating Vulnerability in an Uncertain Age. New York: Routledge, 2004, p. 18.

14 See Martin and Deidre Bobgan. Theophostic Counseling: Divine Revelation? Or PsychoHeresy? Santa Barbara, CA: EastGate Publishers, 1999.

15 Thomas Szasz. The Myth of Psychotherapy. Garden City: Anchor/Doubleday Press, 1978, p. 28.

PsychoHeresy Awareness Ministry (highly recommended free newsletter that is eye-opening. To get on list, call 800-216-4696)

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Psycho Feedback: The Delusional World of Psychobabble

The Babble of the Psychos “Beware lest any man spoil (ruin, deceive) you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. 9 For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. 10 And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:” Colossians 2:8-10 “If I were the Devil … I would substitute psychology for religion.” Paul Harvey, If I Were the Devil You don’t need some stupid program. Psychobabble band aid. $cam. You need the Savior and you connect with […]

The Heart of the Human Problem is the Problem of the Human Heart

video – around 2:13 remove coughing Someone has truthfully stated, wisely observed: “‘Follow your heart’ has ended more marriages, destroyed more homes and children, caused more sin and addictions, mutilated more bodies, destroy more souls, and ended more lives than Satan imagined. It’s one of hell’s most effective slogans – straight from the serpent himself – who altered God’s words in the Garden, and still does 1 Corinthians 10:13a). Don’t follow your heart, follow the ONE Who created it!” Sin: Man’s Core Problem [podcast] https://safeguardyoursoul.com/sin-mans-core-problem/ ***SAINTS, WE HAVE NO FOUNDATION WITHOUT THIS FOUNDATIONAL BIBLICAL TRUTH New Age Satanic Belief that […]

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Clara and Her Boys Blessed! Mexico Mission Rolling!

Okay so here’s the original message concerning Clara.

Brother Vicente continues to minister to the Word of God to men I minister to and then hand them off to him and/or brother Salvador. Such was the case with a man named Florentine who received the spoken Word of God and a JESUS tract in Spanish last week. Both Salvador and Vicente are now in touch with this man and ministering God’s Word to him in his own native tongue, Spanish. Just now, tonight, brother Vicente sent me this: “I’m taking this opportunity, brother, to see if you have any work available for someone. She’s a woman looking for work from 7 AM to 2 PM, cleaning or anything else you can find. If you could get her something, please. She has three children and is a single mother. She doesn’t have a husband. Or if you, the group, could get her things to sell. She’s a young woman with very limited resources.” Vicente

Okay saints, here’s another opportunity. Please lift this dear lady in prayer and her children.

We are already helping a man who is cleaning the vehicle weekly – by paying him cash and buying him lunch once or twice weekly.

I am thinking of hiring Clara to clean the apartment weekly or every other week. This will help her with her monthly bills.

And anyone who wish to help her, just earmark your gift or email me to discuss.

In Christ

Todd

JESUS tract ENGLISH (click to download print-ready PDF) this is the actual text of the JESUS tract of both the English and JESUS tract SPANISH (click to download print-ready PDF]

TODAY: YOU, YOUR PRAYERS AND LOVE OFFERINGS MADE CLARA’S DAY, WEEK, MONTH, AND YEAR!!!

We live in a fallen world and as is far too common this dear woman is carrying a load, burdens that God never intended her to carry (1 Timothy 5:14; 1 Peter 3:7). And you answered her plight and pain with the love of God!

“He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the LORD; and that which he hath given will he pay him again.” Proverbs 19:17

Clara thought she was just coming over to clean my apartment and get a few dollars. God and you had more in mind though!!!!

I will let her speak to you in her own exact words. Upon receiving the cash you sent, which is a large amount in the Mexican economy, Clara broke down uncontrollably in tears for a long while. She was literally shaking, sobbing, tears were flowing down her face. This blessing shocked her – and it’s ALL your fault! 😉 You are guilty as charged beloved of God!

“No one has ever done anything like this for me … I had nothing left to feed my children at home.” Clara

Here below is the raw version of Clara’s words of gratitude for what God did through you, your love! She was only expecting a few dollars for cleaning the apartment. Clara was stunned when I pulled YOUR wad of cash out of my pocket and handed it to her for cleaning the apartment. After she broke down and cried for a while, she spoke her words into google translate to communicate to us. Clara said ……

“Seriously, thank you so much. This means a lot to me. I’ve really struggled a lot. I’m sorry I cried, but I’m very sentimental. No one has ever done anything like this for me. Many people approach me with bad intentions, and some, knowing my need, try to take advantage of it. Tell your friends that I’m so grateful for what they’re doing for me. I’ll never tire of thanking them because, honestly, I had nothing left to feed my children at home, and this will help me buy groceries so they can eat well.

I’m not tired, to be honest. What motivates me are my children.

Without them, my life would have no meaning. I came to work with you today

because of them, and I’m leaving happy, knowing that my life will gradually

improve. Now all I want is to go back home to see my children and be able to

cook them something delicious because I know they’re waiting for me.” Clara

After she spoke of cooking for her boys, I asked Clara if we could go to the grocery store first before I took her home. We went and bought a whole, very large basket full of food. This family has food for weeks and you did it!!! You stepped up and said “Yes LORD Jesus! Thank You for this opportunity to give out of what You gave me – to bless this family in need!” Clara

“Better it is to be of an humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud.” Proverbs 16:19

Mission Mexico

WHILE this was all happening, one of you Christ-glorifying culprits wired $150 – the exact amount that was spent to get Clara a very large portion of groceries~! There was no plan to buy her those groceries but GOD had the plan!!!! The plan was for her to have that cash she received and a basket overflowing with food!!!!

Your giving to Christ’s work …

Makes this happen …

Real people receiving real help, real love, real touch from the body of Christ.

Mission Mexico – See more here.

Download. Read. Print out your supply of the JESUS tract – English and Spanish.

Mission Mexico Part 35 Video Update, etc.

WHILE the people of America have made up their mind, don’t want to be bothered with the Gospel, openly reject it, the people of Mexico grope in darkness, knowing something huge is missing in the lives, waiting only for someone who will deliver the message of Jesus to them. It’s absolutely stunning. “How shall they hear without a preacher?” Romans 10:14 If you’re going to try to convince me that God has millions of professing “Christians” sitting around doing nothing but chasing the next fleeting trinket while the people of Mexico and other countries perish for not having the Gospel… […]

Video Update Mission Mexico [video]

You can help us minister to the people of Mexico. Your prayers and financial support is needed. It’s a grand evangelism opportunity. | Support Mission Mexico Mission Mexico Mission Mexico – See more here. Download. Read. Print out your supply of the JESUS tract – English and Spanish.

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What’s Wrong with the Modern Church World? [podcast]

Is Church Membership Biblical?

State of the Earliest Disciples of Jesus

It’s more than obvious that local churches today are about EVERYTHING EXCEPT JESUS. If you don’t see this, that only proves how Satan has used this system of rebellion called “the church” to blind you to the true Gospel, plan, and will of God.

Anyone who doesn’t see that most pastors are preaching a false Gospel, do not know the true Gospel (2 Corinthians 11:2-5; Galatians 1:6-9).

It’s amazing how we learn to truly begin to trust and walk with the LORD when we leave the modern church system. When we leave it, we no longer trust the idols and elements we once relied upon. Then we can experience true fellowship with Christ and His beloved people.

Just after Pentecost, when the Church was born, before any deceivers or deception could enter in, the saints flourished with Christ and His beloved people. See Acts 2:42-47 as the model of fellowship. Acts 2:42-47 is the prescription for true New Testament worship. Note the word “daily.”

“And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine (God’s Word) and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. 43 And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles. 44 And all that believed were together, and had all things common; 45 And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. 46 And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, 47 Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.” Acts 2:42-47

Note that only the LORD can add to His church.

Is there a difference is what we see when peering into the early church and that which calls itself the church today?

What four things were these earliest Christians doing as they met together? Read the first verse one more time and notice closely those four things.

Notice in verse 43 above it says that “fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles.” Wow! Where’s the fear of the LORD among those who claim to be saved in this late hour? Where is it? Where are the “wonders and signs”?

The “wonders and signs” aren’t present today because of the lack of the communication of the Gospel to the lost which Jesus promised to confirm with signs following (Mark 16:15-20).

“And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.” Mark 16:20

Beloved saint, I want to encourage you to read this blessed passage every day for the next week (Acts 2:42-47). Drink it in, allowing the LORD to use His very words here to begin to possess your heart and mind with His vision for His beloved people.

“There was a Great Persecution Against the Church”

“And Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria, except the apostles. 2 And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him. 3 As for Saul, he made havock of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women committed them to prison. 4 Therefore they that were scattered abroad went every where preaching the word.” Acts 8:1-4

The apostles (under shepherds) stayed at Jerusalem but of the other Christians, the Word relates here that “they were all scattered abroad.”

When persecution hit, those who fled went forth “preaching the word.” When persecution hits our land, how many will even know God’s Word in order to go forth spreading it to others?

That will require knowing God’s Word and most who claim to know Christ today have very little learning in God’s Word. They have been entertained and / or steeped in something else other than Jesus Christ through His Word.

You see, let’s piece together the Word of God a bit. When the LORD poured out His promise – the baptism with the Holy Spirit – His people flourished in worshiping Him and being prepared of Him to do exploits. – “the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits. 33 And they that understand among the people shall instruct many.” (Daniel 11:32-33)

As we see in this powerful passage of Scripture in the book of Daniel, knowing the LORD, doing exploits by His power, having His understanding of His Word, and instructing others in His truth, all go hand-in-hand.

Leading up to and before this hour when “great persecution” hit Jerusalem, the earliest believers were engaged in authentic fellowship which begins with continuing “stedfastly in the apostles doctrine” which is contained in the 27 books of the New Testament canon of Holy Scripture (Acts 2:42). These earlier followers of Jesus flourished in vital union with Him. They were individually consumed. Then, persecution hit and when it did, each individual disciple “went everywhere preaching the word” of God (Acts 8:4). The individual believers in the early church were equipped and this is obvious because each of them “went everywhere preaching the word” of God (Acts 8:4).

Before the “great persecution” hit, the saints of Jesus were flourishing in fellowship with Jesus and therefore one another. They were learning of the LORD. They weren’t being entertained by hireling wolves because none had yet entered into the flock (Acts 20:27-32). God was moving and they were learning of Him, being equipped, trained, and prepared.

“If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained.” 1 Timothy 4:6

Being daily nourished in our hearts by God’s Word is essential and so is attaining to “good doctrine.” This will only happen by diligent, deliberate obedience to the LORD. This is how He prepares His people to do His work. Of Ezra, the servant of the LORD, the Bible records:

“For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the LORD, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments.” Ezra 7:10

The LORD requires preparation in order to use someone.

“If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work.” 2 Timothy 2:21

What will happen when persecution hits America? Have the individuals who sit in church buildings every Sunday ever even been told they need to repent and surrender completely to the LORD? If so, are they being prepared/equipped as is the mandate upon all elders to do? (Ephesians 4:11-12) Jesus commanded us to teach and feed His sheep.

Wolves entertain goats.
True disciples feed sheep, prepare them for the work of the ministry, and push them on to spiritual maturity/perfection. Any leader not doing this is a wolf!

The LORD told us plainly through the prophet Isaiah that “the leaders” among us are the problem:

“For the leaders of this people cause them to err; and they that are led of them are destroyed.” Isaiah 9:16

In a time when many reading these very words should be teaching, you don’t even know the fundamentals of the faith.

“Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing. 12 For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. 13 For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. 14 But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. 1 Therefore leaving the principles (basic fundamentals) of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection (maturity); not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, 2 Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. 3 And this will we do, if God permit.” Hebrews 5:11-14; 6:1-3

Most who name the name of Jesus as their Savior do not even know there are foundation doctrines of Christ. They have never even heard about this. Yet, as we just read, all believers are to know and be teaching the words of our LORD and to go on to maturity, bringing others along.

“Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.” 1 Timothy 4:16

If you now realize that you have been a gullible pawn of some man or men who were/are simply building their little church business at your expense, I want to encourage you flee for your life at once and to get rooted and grounded in God’s love and in His Word. – “Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed.” (Genesis 19:17) The LORD is going to judge the wicked who now occupy that which poses as His church and yet is merely using His name in vain to make themselves popular and rich (Isaiah 56:8-12; Matthew 7:13-23; Romans 16:17-18; Philippians 3:18-19).

God has a much larger plan for His called-out elders than being in leadership in a physical building. His sphere is much more expansive, unrestrained, unencumbered by man’s imposed borders and limits. If a physical building defines or determines a man’s ministry, would that not be an indictment upon Christ and His twelve? Jesus and His apostles don’t qualify as much if possessing real estate where man is king is a defining factor. None of them chose to have a building to minister out of. No, instead they went to the people and were free to be led by the Holy Spirit to the exact places and people whom God wanted to bless.

No Scripture Knowledge

“As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby.” 1 Peter 2:2

To illustrate this great deficiency of truth in that which calls itself Christ’s church, please allow me to convey a conversation I recently had. While talking to a lady about the things of the LORD and the Bible, she wrote this to me (These are her exact words):

“How do you know all these verses? I’ve gone to church all my life, and I can’t quote anything.”

This is an all-too—common admission among those who are good church members but not true disciples of Jesus Christ. This lady is sitting under a false shepherd who has not obeyed God by getting her into His Word for herself. The man or men she has wrongly submitted to are not obeying the LORD by teaching all men all the things Jesus teaches us in His Word (Matthew 28:18-20). Those leaders she has placed herself under are not equipping the sheep of the LORD’s pasture for true worship and the works of the LORD He commands His people to do.

The current apostate system has completely incapacitated the working of the Gospel and Holy Spirit of God in each individual saint. The system is simply making people part of the system – the status quo membership, tithing, and weekly attendance is the extent of involvement. Basically, it’s a brainless, just-follow-along type social club. The deepest involvement of the individual may be giving their own opinion about a topic in a cell group meeting. Hardly an activity seen in the book of Acts. Pitifully lame!

Most who claim to know Jesus don’t even have five Bible verses memorized. This is a telling fact. Instead of learning to take up the cross daily and walk with Jesus, learning God’s Word diligently, they depend on their CEO style pastor and local church and not on Christ. Because he wants job security, the hireling pastor(s) never teach their naïve audiences to deny self, take up their cross, and follow Christ themselves.

But the LORD holds each of us individually responsible to study and know His blessed Precepts – and to do them.

“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” 2 Timothy 2:15

The fact that God’s very Word – “the apostles doctrine” – is not the main course of local churches today, is clear evidence of complete apostasy and guarantee that divine judgment is coming upon them (Jeremiah 6:19).

The Great Commission Command of Christ

What shall we answer the LORD on that Great and Terrible Day? How shall we make excuse? How will we explain to Him who bled and rose again that we didn’t understand His simple command – the Great Commission?
“And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. 19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” Matthew 28:18-20
Those who aren’t following the teachings of Christ, are not following Christ!

Are you learning and teaching God’s Word to others? Such will answer whether or not you are genuinely following Christ. He command it – now “Repent” and “Go.”

Many will regret the wasted years and dollars they squandered on lukewarm local fellowships (Revelation 3:16-17; 21:4). They will have lost volumes of eternal reward for doing so – if they are in Heaven.

The cry of the disciple’s heart is “I simply want to know and follow Jesus as His authentic disciple.” And, most of the time, the local church gets in the way of this – hinders and misdirects the time, energy, and resources of their capture, their corralled prey! Beware.

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The Curse of the Judaizers [podcast]

MODERN ANTICHRISTS BLASPHEMOUSLY SAY THAT JESUS’ SACRIFICE WASN’T ENOUGH SO YOU HAVE TO KEEP TORAH. Jesus says “IT IS FINISHED” (John 19:30). SOMEBODY’S LYING, AND IT ISN’T JESUS.

“Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.” Romans 3:28

The Curse of the Judaizers

It has been rightly observed that the most prolific, prevalent heresy of the New Testament era is the curse of the Judaizers. That is, the “accursed” snakes seducing the members of the body of Christ to go back under the law, which is “another gospel” (Galatians 1:6-9). Since they have put law-keeping (the law), in place of Jesus, we know they are antichrists. Remember, ALL Judaizers, Hebrew Roots groups have this goal—to seduce you to cease trusting Christ and go back under law-keeping. They will vehemently swear that this is not their goal and yet experience tells us different. They are snakes, in every case. Read Galatians closely, afresh. Also Colossians 2.

The true New Testament saved-by-grace-through-faith-in-Christ-alone disciple, sees the Old Testament through the eyes of the infinitely superior NEW Testament. In contrast, the Judaizing serpents seduce their prey to do the opposite—to see the New through the Old. Hebrews 8-10 clearly emphasizes the infinitely superior blessings of the NEW Testament He gave us in Christ (John 1:17).

Glory robbing devils of the vilest nature: Torah keeping antichrists are not upholding Christ, the HEAD of HIS church. Memorize Romans 10:4.

“Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. 9 For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. 10 And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power …. Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, 19 And not holding the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God.” Colossians 2:8-10, 18-19

REST is the blessing of God and wise to partake of in worshipful observance of the LORD who will thereby grant great productivity. Yet keeping a certain day is never commanded under the NEW Testament—because it’s BY FAITH that we rest in our Sabbath, JESUS CHRIST—the only One to perfectly keep the law, then He nailed it to the cross and took it out of the way (Colossians 2:14-19). Read Hebrews 4. Keeping or not keeping a day weekly has nothing to do with salvation. This is how the judaizing wolves seduce saved-by-grace-through-faith saints back under law keeping. And there’s where they are cut off from God, they fall away—due to rejecting Christ’s perfect sacrifice alone for their redemption (Galatians 3:1-3; 5:4). When Jesus says “If ye love me keep my commandments” He is not saying to keep SATURN-day and we know that because He nor His holy apostles ever once instructed any born again disciple to keep any certain day. Paul warns about this often. See Colossians 2:14-19. Salvation, eternal life is Jesus Christ, not His creation, not a day He made (1 John 5:20-21).

The Old Covenant is Obsolete:

“In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old (obsolete). Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.” Hebrews 8:13

The Old Covenant is “abolished” yet we have antichrists going around insisting that people “keep Torah.” They are not saved.

“And not as Moses, which put a vail over his face, that the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is ABOLISHED:” 2 Corinthians 3:13

“Having ABOLISHED in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;” Ephesians 2:15

The old covenant is “ABOLISHED.” It has been superseded by the infinitely superior NEW Covenant ratified in the blood of the Son of God (Matthew 26:28). The old covenant is “abolished.”

“Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.” Galatians 2:16

Read 2 Corinthians 3 each morning this week.

Anyone who gets saved and then doesn’t drill down into the doctrinal letters and epistles and get grounded in grace through faith justification and living, will be susceptible to being deceived by the antichrist Judaizers in our midst. It will cost many of them their eternal souls. There will be not one law-keeping Judaizing snake in Heaven. If you don’t know that, you are biblically illiterate. Romans. Galatians. Ephesians. Philippians. Colossians. Hebrews.

“The yoke of bondage” is law keeping.

“Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.” Galatians 5:1

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